Monday, November 23, 2009

Today is my first day off in two weeks! It's been a little crazy trying to make my schedule work between the two jobs, but after this week, everything should be fine. I still have some tweaking to do with this week, but oh well. At least I have today, Wednesday and Thursday off right now. I definitely need to down time to relax. Today, I feel like crap. Either I am getting sick, or I am just exhausted and it's catching up with me. Either of those is very likely.

Working at Borders has been fine so far. There are a few people who are just so inept at life, that working with them is kind of a chore. That's why I prefer to work weekdays there, where it's just me and the supervisor, and maybe one other person. The hardest part is learning to deal with everyone else's style. Everyone does things in a different way and I am constantly having to adapt to each person I work with. They have all been there longer, so even if I am more recently trained (and therefore more up-to-date on certain protocols), I still have to follow their lead. My big thing is people not keeping the place clean. There are certain people who don't do any cleaning. They just ring people up, and make drinks, but there's a lot more to the job than that. It's always frustrating, to come into the cafe and take over for someone who has let the trash cans overflow, the coffee all sit for too long, the condiment bar run out of everything.

But then there are the regulars, who you recognize on sight, who know you by name, who tip every time. They make all the bad stuff go away. Then there's the random people who pay and put all of their change in the tip jar (and I'm not just talking about the 3 cents from their $2.97 sale), which can make your night too. I had a lady tip me and my co-worker $8.33 the other night. It was ridiculous and awesome. Needless to say, when their drinks were ready, we carried them out to their seats, which we don't normally do.

Teavana, on the other hand, has no redeeming characteristics, other than the paycheck. The extra $100ish a week, almost makes up for giving up my days off...but there is so much there that is NOT worth it. Like the co-worker I had the displeasure of working with the other day. I have already twittered about what a worthless human being he is, but needless to say, I hate him. He is everything I hate about salespeople. I heard him blatanly lie to customers to make a sale. His method is to just talk and talk and talk and talk and it's awful. He''s awful at public speaking, so his speech is full of colloquialisms, and "um"s, and just utter bullshit. His response to everything I said (much like how I can often be heard to say "Your mom" or "Your face") was "That's racist". I'm sure he thought that was hilarious, but he then continued to talk about how he hates white people, and lumped everyone who was not as dark as him, into that category. To me, that's a form of racism in and of itself. People like him are the reason that people suck.

Anyway, I wanted to post a quick update. Now I am going to watch TV on my internet. For free.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

So this was my first week back at Teavana! It was kind of nice to just be able to jump into the swing of things. Everything felt pretty familiar and there are only a few basic things that have changed in the 11 months since I worked there last. There is no more free tea for making your sales goals. I was sorely disappointed to hear that, but I can understand. When you have people who make their goals almost every day, it's a little expensive to provide them with 2oz. of free tea every day. It adds up quickly. I'm still bummed about it. Now I will just have to buy my tea like everyone else. *sigh*

While I was working the other day, someone from Banana Republic came in and handed us a family and friends discount coupon. It was for this weekend only, so I managed to make it to Old Navy with Ariana today, to use it. It was a 30% off coupon, so I got a really schnazzy wool pea coat (a long, warm one, just in time for winter!) for $45. It's exactly what I wanted, which was something warm AND stylish. I need to have something that's a little more grown up than a hoodie, and this is it!

Today was my day off, and CJ had the day off to. I got called in to work at Teavana, because someone was a No Call/No Show. That's bad news bears for them, but I got a few extra hours in this week, which is fine by me. I don't know when my next day off will be, which kind of sucks, but is kind of awesome at the same time. I like the work and I like the money. I also happen to like my free time....but I can enjoy that after Christmas.

Since we were off this morning, we made plans to head into Baltimore and go to Bookthing. Bookthing is like the greatest thing ever. Basically, this guy takes all book donations, sorts them, and makes them available to the public, FOR FREE! It's all donation and volunteer based and you just walk in and take all the books you want. I picked up The Last of the Mochicans, The Subtl Knife by Philip Pullman (sequel to the Golden Compass, which I LOVE), Cell by Stephen King, Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (I plan to re-read the series once it's all out, so I might as well collect them now), among other things. Mike and Tiffany came with us, and they met us at our place at 9. I had scones waiting for them, so we could all have a quick breakfast before venturing into the city. Not just any scones though...apple bacon maple glazed scones. They were pretty yummy, but not stellar. I feel like, with a little tweaking, they could be really awesome. Clearly, there just wasn't enough BACON!

Anyway, I am in the process of making beef stroganoff and then CJ and I are going to relax and watch a movie before bed, so I better get back to it.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Today is my first day off in almost a week. I'm actually working full time at the cafe this week. I'm not sure if this will continue, as I was told I wouldn't get full time until Thanksgiving, but we did lose a staff member indefinitely. Plus, this past week, a co-worker's grandmother passed away unexpectedly, so they were out too.

I feel pretty comfortable working in the cafe. I really enjoy being in a cafe/bookstore. The clientele are pretty chill, and are a fairly intelligent bunch. The major complaint I have about my job is being pulled away from the cafe. I don't mind working the registers downstairs, but it's kind of a pain. People are a lot less friendly (apparently they are in need of some caffeine or some happy pills!), and there's a lot more to remember. Plus, I am constantly having to call a manager for this or for that. I'd much rather just be in my own little world in the cafe.

The cafe tends to be pretty slow during the week. We get rushes at certain times, and then it's a little crazy, but I like that kind of crazy. As long as there is someone else there to help me through the rush, it's no big deal. A rush on the register down stairs is a different story. People get pissy, and then when they get to the register, they want to take 20 minutes. Blah.

I've also checked in with Teavana about working there part time. This was before I was working full time hours at the cafe, so things could be a little crazy in the coming weeks. I am not really sure how to balance my schedule between the two, so it'll be a work in progress. I have yet to hear for sure, but I was told I'd be on the schedule for next week.

I'm excited about the tea. Actually, I am kind of excited in general, to be going back to Teavana. As much as commission sales sucked, that store was kind of home to me. I spent a lot of time there, and was quite comfortable. Plus, I LOVE the tea. And they just got a bunch of NEW teas, which is really exciting.

http://www.teavana.com/shop.axd/TeaWall is a complete listing of all their teas. Mmmm tea.

Halloween passed pretty uneventfully. We went to an impromptu party at Ariana and Nick's, which was fun. CJ and I both worked that night, and the next morning, so it was a pretty low-key evening for us. We watched other people drink.

That's pretty much about it. We are trying to figure out Christmas plans. My family will be visiting grandparents in up-state New York, so CJ and I are trying to figure out when a good time to get up there and see them would be. Working retail, we probably won't be there Christmas day.

Oh, and as a Border's employee now (even though I technically work for Seattle's Best, I am a Border's employee), I get to peruse all the advanced copy books and take them home for free. I just finished one that I really liked. It's called "Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes". It was about an America woman who was living in London doing a Masters program. She met a frenchman who lived in Paris and they eventually married. It talked about her transition from American woman to ex-pat and all the trials and tribulations of living in a different society. It also talks a lot about food and how that was a major part of her learning to accept her new life. At the end of each chapter are fabulous recipes. I'm a fan. The book is by Elizabeth Bard and it comes out in February.